Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #48. The Lodge – Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala

Published on January 6, 2019

The Lodge

Art-house commodities after their stylish 2014 debut Goodnight Mommy (read review), co-directors Veronika Franz (wife of Ulrich Seidl) and Severin Fiala scored their English language debut with The Lodge, a co-production between the UK’s Hammer Films and FilmNation Entertainment. In a similar vein to their previous film (which is set for its own English remake from Matt Sobel of Take Me to the River), filming took place in early 2018 in Montreal shooting in 35mm with Greek cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and featuring a cast including Riley Keough, Richard Armitage (The Hobbit), Jaeden Lieberher (It: Chapter One), and Lia McHugh.

Gist: Co-written by the directors and Sergio Casci, Severin and Fiala once more revisit an estranged figure of motherhood as a soon-to-be stepmom finds herself isolated in a cabin with two children. Eventually, events trigger memories of her strictly religious upbringing related to strange and frightening events which begin to take place.

Release Date/Prediction: The Lodge filmed in early 2018 and will be premiering in the Midnight section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.